Family ministry

Det is a father of 3 who has a 6th grade education. Ae is a teenage girl from the slum who has another term of 9th grade to go. Fai is a single soon-to-be-mother who has completed 12th grade but is unable to work. These are real people (with name changes) that we work with here. Det is constantly between jobs as he is unable to make enough money to support his family and relatives because of his low education. He is expected to support his relatives who spend all of their own money on alcohol. Ae is unable to complete her last term of 9th grade because she has no money to pay due to her mother's gambling addiction and may soon be finding fast ways of making money. Fai is unable to work for a living until she has given birth and recovered from this high-risk pregnancy, and her family cannot help support her because of gambling addictions. Each of these 3 people are in their helpless situations not because they themselves have addictions but because others do - because those who are supposed to work together with them or be there for them in their time of need are too busy looking for satisfactions that last only for a few hours. 

I ask myself everyday what it is that people like Det, Ae and Fai need, and how I can help them without doing more damage than good. How can I help them in a way that doesn't "rescue" them but instead enables them to rescue themselves? How can I support them without allowing them to rely on me but instead point them to God? Giving money should hardly be the answer, but where is the line? These are the issues of the society that we face almost daily, and what I've observed is that there is something REALLY important that we need to be focusing on. Family. It all starts in the family. Those who have addictions usually have them because of past pain, most likely from childhood, and those who are affected by their addictions are Det, Ae and Fai, their own family members. Either addictions are passed on to the next generation or neglect and abuse is passed on - sometimes both of them are passed on. 

Business might be the answer to their financial needs, and it sure can be used by God, but there needs to be something other than business in order to reach the family life. There needs to be something to impact the grandparents and parents and encourage them to love their children and to reach out to the children from a young age and teach them God's way so that they may have a chance of a hopeful life where they can then raise their own families to become a responsible future of the country. That's why we focus on family ministry - reaching out to children and youth through games and activities that interest them, reaching out to young mothers and babies through activities that will strengthen their love and bond, using business as a tool for God's love to be shown and to enable parents to work close to home, and gently teaching and encouraging people to hold on to the community aspect of Thai culture and stand for each other. 

One of the main spheres of the society here is family. It is the one with the most influence on how someone's life will turn out in the future. It is the one we need to reach out to to shoot an arrow of God's love and break through the pain and issues we face in society today. The family unit has the power to work together with Det and help support him so that he can further his education and get a better job in the future. The family unit has the power to raise children like Ae with love and support her in her education preventing her from getting into dangerous work as a teenager to make fast money. The family unit has the power to support Fai when she is faced with circumstances that don't allow her to support herself. When we reach out to families instead of just focusing on how we can help one person here and now, whole societies will be changed.

Last week

Last week's soccer program in the village was awesome! Thank you for all your prayers. We were so blessed to have a team from Singapore come and help us. I was personally able to build relationships with more of the women from Noom's village as most of the village came to watch the children play. We pray and trust that whole families and the community was touched as they saw the skills their children have in sports (some of them seeing their children play soccer for the first time) and that this would be the start of future change in family life - with parents being more involved in their children's lives. We pray that the people in the village were able to see God's love through everything Noom did to plan this event for the children and through the wise Biblical teachings he gave them.

The children warming up for their first game

Coach Noom (above) and Coach Eliyah (below)

All the teams from 4 different villages that participated in the program

The team that Noom coaches in his village with some of the parents and grandparents that came to cheer them on

The Isaan kids love sports

Noom playing in the guy's game on the first day (above) and me in the girl's game (below)

Praise God for His protection and blessings over the work in Noom's village!

Eliyah's health

We are coming into the week of the soccer program in the village and things are starting to come together! Noom has been in the village since last week (apart from the weekend where he came back to town) preparing the soccer field and the house for teams. I will be going to the village tomorrow with Eliyah and then the program will start on Thursday. We wrote in our newsletter update last week that Eliyah had been asthma-free for a few months (even amongst the flu and colds) however last week with all the weather changes he caught a cold which turned into labored breathing, a croupy cough, and wheezing all throughout last Saturday night. We would like to ask for your prayers for protection over his health as things like these tend to happen right before a big event, program or a turning-point in the ministry. We are claiming victory over every attempt from the devil to stop God's work here but we really need continued prayer support - prayer for protection over our family's health. Praise God that Eliyah is much better now and although he's still wheezing and coughing a bit, everything seems to be under control! Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Sorry for lack of updates!

From now on, we are going to try and write a blog once a week starting from today :-)

Apart from the updates we sent out in our newsletter last week (if you didn't receive our newsletter and wish to receive it and/or future updates please contact us) we have a further update about the soccer ministry:

We are so excited for the opportunity to run another soccer program in Noom's village at the end of this month. This is the 3rd year running a 3-day tournament in the school holidays in Noom's village, but the first year that we are seeing the villagers opening up and excited to have a part. Not only is the school getting involved and preparing two teams of under 12's, but the village has also prepared a woman's team to play with the women of our team. This is a huge opportunity for us to build relationships with the people in Noom's village, not just by running something for the children and having the parents come along to watch, but actually having activities that give us the chance to interact with the adults in the village too. The first day will be for the young adults: guys on our team VS the guys from the village, and girls on our team VS the girls from the village. The remaining three days will be a fun tournament for the under 12's. Please be praying for open hearts and for relationships to be built during 24th-27th October!

And a further update about the music ministry:

Noom is currently in the process of writing a few songs about the life of Daniel and recording them with another couple of songs about Gideon and Samson. This is for a project run by a friend of ours in another province who has a heart to record Isaan-style songs about the Bible so that Isaan people can have more opportunities to learn about the Bible (especially for those who can't read Thai or are unable to get a copy of a Thai Bible that isn't the Thai KJ version!). Our friend has already completed two albums (Genesis and Exodus). We are thankful that God allowed us to be a part of this project but Noom needs prayer in writing the songs about Daniel because he doesn't want to miss anything important but also needs to pick and choose the most necessary facts and put them to music that will be easy for people to understand. The goal is to have them finished and recorded by the end of this year.